A lot of times I storyline way ahead of where I’m actually writing. In this case, I like to write down all of my scenes that I know are coming up so that I don’t forget to write them, or forget what order they are in. As I write them, I cross them off the list. The scenes above are the last dozen or so scenes in Phooka Tales, my NaNo Novel from 2008. While I finished the 50,000 words required in the month of November, I hadn’t yet finished the book itself. I’m proud to say I’m now six major scenes away from finishing the book. All that’s left is a phone call, a manticore attack, saying goodbye to Phooka… and you get the drift. There are, of course, minor scenes between all of these that have to be written, and “Chloe says goodbye” ended up being a very minor scene (actually, just a blurb at the beginning of “Holly calls Scott”), but for the most part when those six unlined scenes are finished being written Phooka Tales will be done as a first draft.
Then it’s time to go back to editing Fie Eoin!